Manitoba First Nation advertises sundance

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The Dakota Tipi First Nation in Manitoba will have its sundance from June 26 to June 29, with the purification taking place four days earlier. Normally, this is private information, but this First Nation has taken a different approach: it's advertising the sundance.

For Carl Pasche, band councillor with Dakota Tipi, this is one of the best ways for people to learn about it.

"The medicine man [Leonard Crow Dog] advised us to go ahead and let the people know and put the dates in the paper," he said. "If anybody wants to ask any questions they can ask him."

Pasche doesn't see a problem and can't understand why anybody would . He thinks this is the way to save these ceremonies.

"Why should we hide it? What's wrong with opening up the doors?" he asked. "Hiding the spirituality is dead and gone."

But this is still a sensitive subject for many Aboriginal people. In 1995, several people were upset that Windspeaker published a photo of an Elder conducting a ceremony in a sweat lodge.

The Peigan Elder and spiritual leader who was the subject of the photograph is of the same mind as Pasche: taking pictures and writing about ceremonies is fine as long as it's done with respect.

Pasche wants to make it clear that the Dakota Tipi First Nation is not selling its religion or trying to draw a big crowd. Pasche finds it unusual that churches advertise sacred events, but no one complains about that. Pasche sees this as a chance to reach out to people who need sundances, but don't know about them.

"There are people that want help, that want to learn," he said.

This is the one way that people can reconnect and learn about their traditions. Besides, it's only the dates that are being published and not any of the details, he added.

"What's wrong with letting people know?" he asked. "They know there are sundances out there, but they don't know how to get to them or who to talk to."